did anyone else like Bashir from the word go?

Bashir isn't my favorite, but that doesn't mean I don't like him. It's just that DS9 has too many great characters to choose from, and it's hard for me to put Bashir above Kira, Odo, and Quark. I always liked him, though, right from the start. He was like an eager little puppy. I loved the scene after his first meeting with Garak, when he's gushing to the other senior staff about meeting the Cardassian spy.

Also, his friendship with O'Brien was one of the greatest things about DS9.

However, I didn't think the whole flirtatious, "skirt-chaser" thing really suited his personality. I don't know why, but he never struck me as the playboy type.

I didn't hate him and I understood why he was how he was... there were times you did want to shake your head at him, but he was always fun to me. However, as he matured, he fast became one of my favourite characters on the show. I think the shows that really solidified that were The Quickening and Our Man Bashir. Those two just really painted an intriguing character with lots of depth to me. And he gets better from there still!

Yeah, he was one of DS9's best characters. I liked how he was a blend of talented, charming, insecure, naive, arrogant, and shortsighted. He had strengths as well as character weaknesses. I was always rooting for him; he made a great protagonist.

Yeah, he was one of DS9's best characters. I liked how he was a blend of talented, charming, insecure, naive, arrogant, and shortsighted. He had strengths as well as character weaknesses. I was always rooting for him; he made a great protagonist.

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Agreed. Like most DS9 characters, he was multi-layered and likeably flawed. Fundamentally a decent and caring person. He just had his blind spots, was all.

I don't think I ever disliked him. I've just finished re-watching season 1, and his utter callowness amused me, even though I'm glad that he grows away from that. And Past Prologue just gets better, and funnier, each time I watch it. Siddig's performance is hilarious in that one. I think that kept me from ever really disliking Bashir.

I liked him. I also really liked his exchange with Kira when she told him off a bit for looking all wide-eyed and happy, calling DS9 a "new frontier" or something like that. For her, that had been Terok Nor (sp?) and she remembered the horrors of the place. She schooled him on a few things really fast. That was great because you could understand both perspectives. He was naive and just happy to be there and experience something new, and she had a hard life and let him know that even though he was wide-eyed, he still suffered from a case of eyes-wide-shut-itis.

In the first few episodes Bashir's like a cartoon stereotype of a philanderer, like Barney Stilson or Okana.

I think most screenwriters just have no idea how to write a believable philanderer, because their experience with jocks is being pushed around by them.

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I think some of that was on purpose, though. Or, at least it seemed that way to me. He seemed to get around a bit, and he was playful, but it's like he was trying to be someone he wasn't. It makes me think there's a reason why one of his favorite holographic programs was James Bond-esque. Except, he's not James Bond. Jadzia could see that right away, and I think that's one of the reasons she brushes off his advances. He wasn't ready for her yet, and by the time he was, she'd found someone else. Such is life.

I liked him when he helped Data with his dreams. I liked him better when he was the only one able to intellectually enjoy Garak's company. But then that thing with him being genetically enhanced and having that weird bromance with Miles kinda brought him down.

I have loved and always shall love Bashir. He is definitely my favorite character out of all the series and he's just so darn amazing. As you pointed out, he can be kind of arrogant but he has that certain quality that just makes people connect with him. I mean come on! He became best friends with Garak! I love how at the beginning he's so childish but by the end of the series he's more grown up. He's kind, caring, and smart and just everything a doctor should be. One of my favorite episodes is "The Wire" when Garak is sort of going through withdrawal symptoms. Julian not only cares for Garak but he actually stays overnight with him and lets Garak let out his rage on him. Now that's what I call friendship. Julian will always be my favorite!

I didn;t mind the character from the start, but for me the acting early on was so terrible it was hard to care about him. For instance, the rolling the eyes and speaking very slowly bad guy in the Passenger.

I reckon it was only when the actor himself settled down into the role that Bashir started working.

Agreed on The Passenger. Sid didn't do "possessed" very well I don't think. He was equally stilted as the Changeling Bashirs in both The Adversary and in Purgatorys/Infernos.

That said, I have to say I LOVED Bashir in both the early and in the later seasons, and, I know I'm in the minority here, but I actually think the retcon *worked* really well for the character.

In the early seasons, knowing how dark and gritty the station and the crew was, and seeing doe-eyed Bashir come on I thought "This guy is going to get eaten alive!" To see him around O'Brien and Kira in those early seasons made me wince, but having that conflict between the characters is what the show was about. To have them all grow closer to one another over the years was one of the reasons the show is so endearing to the fans I think.

For me, the game-changer for Bashir was Distant Voices. Not only was this an excellent episode, with some top-notch acting from Siddig, but for me this was the bridge that connected early season Bashir to the more confident Bashir of the later seasons.

In that episode we get to see what's inside Bashir's head as the Lethian calls Bashir out on several issues, telling him "There's no secrets in here". In that context, you understand that the early, seemingly naive Bashir was a total con. Sure the writers didn't know the genetically enhanced angle yet, but still - the intentional flubbing of his entrance exams, the fact that his Dad discouraged him from becoming a tennis pro, the nervousness about the attention of getting the Carrington award - it actually works. It's not a perfect retcon of course, but it's one I'm willing to go with. Honestly, after the retcon was revealed, it actually made me like early-Bashir even more.